Oldest to win Best Director
The star of films like “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) and "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995), Clint Eastwood was 74 years old when he won the Oscar for “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005. Eastwood is also the only person to produce, direct and star in two Best Picture winners – “Unforgiven” (1992) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004).
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First non-English Best Picture
At the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020, the South Korean film “Parasite” became the first foreign-language movie to win in the Best Picture category. The dark comedy-thriller is directed by Bong Joon-ho and is co-written with Han Jin-won.
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Films that won the most acting awards
No one film has ever won the quartet of acting Oscars – Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The closest any has ever come is “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951; Marlon Brando missed the Best Actor award) and “Network” (1976; Ned Beatty lost in the Best Supporting Actor category).
(Pictured) Vivien Leigh and Brando in a still from "A Streetcar Named Desire."
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Most wins in a single year
Writer and producer of “Parasite” (2019), Bong Joon Ho (R), won four Oscars – Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best International Feature Film and Best Picture – in 2020 to match Walt Disney's record of most wins in a night. Disney took home four statuettes from the 26th annual awards in 1954 – Best Documentary (Feature) for “The Living Desert,” Best Documentary (Short Subject) for “The Alaskan Eskimo,” Best Short Subject (Cartoons) for “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” and Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) for “Bear Country.”
Disney also holds the record for most Oscar nominations and wins by an individual (living or dead) – 59 and 22, respectively. He has also won four honorary Oscars.
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Most nominated individual (living)
Music composer John Williams, whose impressive body of work includes “Jaws” (1975), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), “Schindler’s List” (1993) and, most recently, “Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), has 52 nominations to his name. Williams has won five Academy Awards – for “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971), “Jaws,” “Star Wars" (1977), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Schindler’s List.”
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Family members in Best Picture winners
English actress Rachel Kempson (pictured) is at the head of an acting dynasty that includes six-time Academy Award nominee Vanessa Redgrave.
Kempson appeared in “Tom Jones” (1963) and “Out of Africa” (1985), both of which won Best Picture. Following in her footsteps, all three of her children were also in Best Picture winners – Lynn Redgrave was in “Tom Jones,” and Corin Redgrave and Vanessa were in “A Man for All Seasons” (1966).
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Every film nominated
The late John Cazale acted in only five movies and all received Oscar nods. Those five were “The Godfather” (1972, 10 nominations and three wins, including Best Picture), “The Conversation” (1974, three nominations, including Best Picture), "The Godfather: Part II" (1974, 11 nominations and six wins, including Best Picture and Best Director), “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975, six nominations and one win) and “The Deer Hunter” (1978, nine nominations and five wins, including Best Picture and Best Director).
(Pictured L-R) With Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and James Caan in "The Godfather."
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First family to win across generations
Led by Walter Huston (Best Supporting Actor for "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948)), the family won Academy Awards across three generations. Huston’s son John won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and his daughter, Anjelica, won Best Supporting Actress for “Prizzi’s Honor” (1985).
(Pictured) Walter Huston (L) poses with John after winning Oscars for "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on March 24, 1949.
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The Coppolas
The second family to claim Oscars across three generations, the winning streak started with Carmine Coppola winning an award for Original Dramatic Score for “The Godfather: Part II” (1974). His son, Francis Ford Coppola won the first of his five Oscars in 1971 – Best Writing, Story and Screenplay for “Patton.” Francis Ford’s daughter – Sofia Coppola – then won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay for “Lost in Translation” in 2004.
The family can also claim a fourth Oscar-winning member in Nicolas Cage (who is Sofia’s cousin), who won Best Actor for “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995).
(Pictured) Francis Ford (R) and his father, Carmine, pose after winning their Oscars, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on April 8, 1975.
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Only brothers with acting nominations
River and Joaquin Phoenix are the only brothers to be nominated for acting Oscars. River was nominated in 1988 for “Running on Empty." Joaquin has four Oscar nods – “Gladiator” (2000), “Walk the Line” (2005), “The Master” (2012) and "Joker" (2019, pictured), which he went on to win.
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Only sisters to win acting Oscars
Joan Fontaine (L) won Best Actress for “Suspicion” (1941). Olivia de Havilland won the same award twice – for “To Each His Own” (1946) and “The Heiress” (1949).
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Only couples to win Oscars for lead roles
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (L) are the only married couple to win acting Oscars. Olivier won Best Actor for “Hamlet” (1948) and Leigh Best Actress for “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951); she also won the same award for “Gone with the Wind” (1939), but that was before her marriage.
The only other couple to come close is Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward; Newman won for “The Color of Money” (1986) and Woodward for “The Three Faces of Eve” (1957). However, the latter’s win was before their marriage in 1958.
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Only female director to win
In the history of the Academy Awards, only five women have been nominated for Best Director – Lina Wertmüller for “Seven Beauties” (1975), Jane Campion for “The Piano” (1993), Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” (2003), Kathryn Bigelow (pictured) for “The Hurt Locker” (2008) and Greta Gerwig for "Lady Bird" (2017).
Bigelow is the only woman to have won the award; she beat ex-husband James Cameron, who was nominated for "Avatar," to the award in 2009.
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Consecutive acting awards
Only five actors have ever won the same award in consecutive years. The first to do so was Luise Rainer, who won Best Actress Oscars for “The Great Ziegfield” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937).
She was followed by Spencer Tracy who won Best Actor for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938). Katharine Hepburn won Best Actress for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967) and “The Lion in Winter” (1968).
Jason Robards won Best Supporting Actor honor for “All the President’s Men” (1976) and “Julia” (1977) and Tom Hanks won Best Actor awards for “Philadelphia” (1993) and “Forrest Gump” (1994).
(Pictured) Tracy and Hepburn in "Woman of the Year" (1942).
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Brother-sister Oscar winners
The only brother-sister pair to win acting Oscars is Lionel Barrymore (Best Actor for “A Free Soul” (1931)) and Ethel Barrymore (Best Supporting Actress for “None But the Lonely Heart” (1944)).
(Pictured) Ethel (L) and Lionel in "Rasputin and the Empress" (1932).
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Only X-rated Best Picture winner
Director John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969).
In 1971, the film was edited and given an R rating.
(Pictured) Jon Voight (L) and Dustin Hoffman in a still from the movie.
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Country with most Foreign Language Film wins
Italy - 11 wins and three Special/Honorary Awards from 28 nominations.
(Pictured) A still from the Oscar-winning movie "Cinema Paradiso" (1988).
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Biggest winners
“Ben-Hur” (R, 1959), “Titanic” (L, 1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003) have each won 11 Oscars, from 12, 14 and 11 nominations, respectively.
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Posthumous wins by actors
Heath Ledger (R) and Peter Finch are the only actors to be awarded an Academy Award posthumously, for "The Dark Knight" (2008) and "Network" (1976), respectively.
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One character, two Oscars
Marlon Brando (L) and Robert De Niro are the only actors to have won Oscars for the same character - that of Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974), respectively.
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The first three-time Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis is the first to have won three Academy Awards for Best Actor.
(Pictured) A combination of pictures of the actor posing with his Oscars (from L): on March 2, 1990, for his role in "My Left Foot;" on Feb. 28, 2008, for his role in "There Will Be Blood;" and on Feb. 24, 2013, for his role in "Lincoln."
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Youngest and oldest Best Actors
At 29 years and 343 days, Adrien Brody (pictured) became the youngest to be given the Best Actor award; he won it for "The Pianist" (2002).
At the age of 76 years and 317 days, Henry Fonda became the oldest to be presented the same award; he won it for "On Golden Pond" (1981).
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Youngest and oldest Best Actresses
Jessica Tandy (L) won the award for "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), when she was 80 years and 292 days old.
At the other end of the spectrum, Marlee Matlin won Best Actress for "Children of a Lesser God" (1986, her movie debut), at the age of 21 years and 218 days.
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First person to refuse an Oscar
Screenwriter Dudley Nichols refused his Oscar in 1935 for the film “The Informer” to protest the Academy’s refusal to accept the Screen Writers’ Guild, among other union matters.
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Only write-in winner
In 1935, Hal Mohr (L) won an Oscar for cinematography for the film “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” without being a nominee. He won by a write-in vote, a practice that the Academy banned soon afterwards.
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